The South African Reserve Bank has introduced new security features on the Mandela bank notes, it said on Friday.

“Enhancing features on banknotes is an ongoing process to maintain the highest level of quality and security,” Reserve Bank governor Gill Marcus said in a statement. “This is in line with international best practice.”

The new security feature is in the form of little dots that will appear on the front and back of all Mandela bank notes.

The security features were previously found to be defective.

Last year, the Sunday Times reported that the security thread, the most visible feature on the notes, which was meant to be embedded in the note, lifted off easily.

The thread exposed the notes to counterfeiting.

The thread is produced by a German company and printed by two companies, one Swedish and the other South African.

The Reserve Bank admitted then to isolated complaints about the defective security thread on lower denomination notes.

The notes, which feature the face of former president Nelson Mandela, were first introduced in November 2012. — Sapa